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Eritrea is an ancient name,associated in the past with its Greek form Erythraia,Ἐρυθραία,and its derived Latin form Erythræa. This name relates to that of the Red Sea,then called the Erythræan Sea,from the Greek for "red",ἐρυθρός,erythros. The Italians created the colony of Eritrea in the 19th century around Asmara,and named it with its current name. After World War II,Eritrea annexed to Ethiopia. Following the communist Ethiopian government's defeat in 1991 by the coalition created by various armed groups notably the EPLF and the TPLF among others,Eritrea declared its independence. Eritrea officially celebrated its 1st anniversary of independence on May 24,1994.
The Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) are the combined military forces of Eritrea composed of three branches:Eritrean Army,Eritrean Air Force and Eritrean Navy. The Army is by far the largest,followed by the Air Force and Navy. The Commander-in-Chief of the EDF is the President of Eritrea. Their military role stems from Eritrea's strategic geographical location,located on the Red Sea with a foothold on the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.
Isaias Afwerki is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in 24 May 1991,ending the 30-year-old war for independence from Ethiopia.
The People's Front for Democracy and Justice is the founding,ruling,and sole legal political party of the State of Eritrea. The successor to the left-wing nationalist Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF),the PFDJ holds itself open to nationalists of any political affiliation. The leader of the PFDJ party and current President of Eritrea is Isaias Afwerki. It has been described as totalitarian.
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF),colloquially known as Shabia,was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). After achieving Eritrean independence in 1991,it transformed into the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ),which serves as Eritrea's sole legal political party.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front,also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a leftist ethnic nationalist paramilitary group,and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government from May 2021 until its removal from the list in March 2023. In older texts and Amharic publications,it is known as Woyane or Wayane.
The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF),informally known as Jebha,was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the early 1970s. It was established in 1960 after Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie violated a 1952 UN resolution that guaranteed Eritrea the right to an autonomous government. Idris Muhammad Adam and other Eritrean intellectuals founded the ELF as a primary Pan Arab movement in Cairo,but the first attack was led by Hamid Idris Awate in 1961. Over the course of the 1960s,the ELF was able to obtain support from Arab countries such as Egypt and Sudan. However,tensions between Muslims and Christians in the ELF along with the failure of the ELF to ward off Ethiopia's 1967–1968 counter offensive internally fractured the ELF,causing it to split. By the mid 1970s,the ELF and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF),an ideologically Maoist liberation movement,were the key liberation movements in Eritrea. The EPLF ultimately overtook the ELF as the primary Eritrean independence movement by 1977,and the ELF was subsequently defeated in 1981.
The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991.
Petros Solomon is an Eritrean politician. He was an Eritrean People's Liberation Front commander during the Eritrean War of Independence,and following independence he served in several positions in the Cabinet,including Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has been in prison,held incommunicado in an undisclosed location,since September 18,2001 for opposing the rule of Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki. Amnesty International has named him a prisoner of conscience.
Mesfin Hagos is an Eritrean who was one of the founding members of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). In government,he was the Eritrean Minister of Defense during the 1990s. After repression by president Isaias Afwerki against Mesfin's colleagues,Mesfin sought political asylum in Germany in 2013,where he lived as of December 2020.
Haile Woldense or Woldetensae is an Eritrean politician.
Alamin Mohammed Seid was an Eritrean politician.
The Eritrean Civil Wars were two conflicts that were fought between competing organizations for the liberation of Eritrea.
Eritrea–Israel relations are foreign relations between Eritrea and Israel. Both countries established diplomatic relation in 1993 following Eritrean independence. Eritrea has an embassy in Ramat Gan and Israel has an embassy in Asmara. Their ties are generally considered as very close. Both Eritrea and Israel have shared access to the Red Sea.
Osman Saleh Sabbe was born in 1932 in a village of Hirgigo in the suburb of Massawa,he was fifth of eight siblings. After attending local Islamic school,he joined Hirgigo primary school which was founded by Pasha Saleh Ahmed Kekia in 1944. After finishing elementary and middle school he traveled to Addis Ababa to complete his secondary school and attend teacher training college. While in Addis Ababa,he was active in establishing a Muslim student association.
Eritrean nationalism is centered on the fact that the Eritreans share a common history,and as such constitute a nation unto themselves. Even though there is a natural basis for Eritrean nationalism,there is still diversity within Eritrean demographics. Eritrea has nine major ethnic groups,each with their own language and culture and is split between two major religions,Christianity and Islam. However,the Eritrean government seeks to foster Eritrean nationalism through programs such as national service,the promotion of civic nationalism and the formation of the youth organization YPFDJ,as well as curbing foreign influences.
Ahmed Mohamed Jasir,is one of the most significant leaders in Eritrean history of struggle for independence from 1958 to 1990.
The fall of the Derg,also known as Downfall of the Derg,was a military campaign that resulted the defeat of the ruling military junta Derg by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on 28 May 1991 in Addis Ababa,ending the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg took power after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty,an imperial dynasty of Ethiopia that began in 1270. The Derg suffered insurgency with different factions,and separatist rebels groups since early their rule,beginning with the Ethiopian Civil War. The 1983–1985 famine,the Red Terror,and resettlement and villagization infamed the Derg with majority of Ethiopians tended to support insurgent groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).
On 24 May 1993,Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia following a United Nations sponsored referendum,which gained 99.8% Eritrean support for independence. Isaias Afwerki became president and head of Eritrea,after fighting with his Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) against the authoritarian Derg government during the Ethiopian Civil War from 1974 to 1991. Eritrea became a one-party state and promised to schedule presidential elections in 2001,but was then delayed indefinitely without precondition. Isaias became a totalitarian leader and was accused by many watchdogs of repression and purges of journalists,dissent and opposition groups like People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) officials,mass surveillance,arbitrary detention,lack of independent judiciary body and freedom of association,press,and speech. In 2015,the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea reported that there were "systemic,widespread and gross human rights violations carried out in a context of total lack of rule of law". The Freedom in the World ranked Eritrea "not free" state as of 2022,with a total 3/100 score in both political rights and civil liberties.